J-K LG Launches Crackdown Against Narco-Terror Network

As part of its zero-tolerance policy against narco-terror in Jammu and Kashmir, four government employees have been terminated from the service by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha by invoking Article 311 of the Constitution, sources said.

The sources said that second phase of war against terrorism and terrorist groups has begun in Jammu and Kashmir and the painstaking investigation clearly established that these four government employees were acting on behalf of terror outfits. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies had collected incriminating material evidence against them.

According to sources, the four employees have been indentified as Police Constables Mushtaq Ahmad Pir and Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone, Baazil Ahmad Mir (Junior Assistant, School Education) and Mohd Zaid Shah (Village Level Worker, Rural Development Department)

According to sources, Mushtaq Ahmad Pir was recruited in Jammu and Kashmir Police in 1995 as a Constable in its Armed Police Wing. After joining the Police department, he was posted to various places in Jammu and Kashmir and spent a large part of his service period in the Kupwara District.

“After getting acquainted with networks of drug traffickers, he took undue advantage of his police position and leveraged it for hassle free transportation and sale of drugs. He was least likely to be suspected for being a man in uniform, and therefore went unnoticed at Police Naka points, where he would use his Police Identity Card to avoid detection of any of his wrongdoings especially avoid searches of his vehicle including of those travelling with him in such vehicles. As such, his criminal activities remained undetected over the period,” a source said.

Investigations have revealed that instead of helping the department in fighting the drug menace, which he was mandated to do, he chose to be a kingpin of peddling drugs and thus betrayed his oath and uniform. Mushtaq Ahmad Pir brazenly used his influence as a police official to strengthen the drug syndicate in and around Kupwara-Handwara area.

Sources said he was able to establish contacts with narcotic drug smugglers across the border in Pakistan and was able to run a drug cartel in the North Kashmir belt. It is a well-established fact that origin of all contrabands like heroin and brown sugar is Pakistan, from where it gets smuggled through LOC and international border into India.

Police had been monitoring his activities to nab him along with the recovery of contraband substance. Due to continuous surveillance on his activities, he was eventually caught by Handwara Police. During interrogation, he revealed that he has been close associate of Iftikhar Andrabi who was the kingpin of a narco-terror syndicate operating across the border.

“He had devised a modus-operandi of supplying narcotic drugs in Handwara and Kupwara town through a network of small drug peddlers making it difficult for the law enforcement agencies to trace him in the supply chain. In order to carry out the illegal trade, he used to exploit the gullible youth by getting them addicted to drugs and thus making them habitual addicts and peddlers. He targeted young school/college students who are of impressionable mind and are extremely receptive to the lure of drug consumption,” a source added.

Sources said heroin and brown sugar (lucrative compared to other narcotics), which is not cultivated in Indian territory, is inextricably linked with terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and every gram of it being peddled or consumed in India comes from Pakistan through several networks with the sole aim of destabilizing the security situation especially in the union territory for larger design of secession from India.

Referring to Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone, the sources said he was appointed as Constable in Jammu and Kashmir Police in 2002. They said after his recruitment, instead of working for maintenance of law, order and peace as a policeman, he strayed and slipped into illicit activities aimed at aiding and abetting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir that has been raging since last three decades.

The sources said he chose the path of secessionism and became an important and trusted terror associate (OGW-Over Ground Worker) of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

According to sources in December 2023, Police Station Tral received an information to the effect that some terrorist associates (including women) active in Police District Awantipora, especially in jurisdiction of Tral, are in constant touch with terrorist handlers of proscribed terrorist organizations based in Pakistan through different communication mediums and supplying, transporting and facilitating delivery of arms and ammunition for promoting and executing terrorist acts. It was further learnt that some of the terrorist associates have received illegal arms and ammunition and have been tasked to commit terrorist acts by targeting civilians and security forces to create an atmosphere of terror in Kashmir.

During the course of investigation, a woman Rukaya Farooq of Tral was arrested. In her confessional statement she disclosed that during the first week of December-2023, three Pakistan based terrorists of proscribed terrorist Organization Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) namely Shaheen Bhai, Rezwan Bhai and Qari Bhai contacted her and conveyed that some arms and ammunition has to be brought for carrying out terror activities. The woman conveyed the message to Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone who consented to bring the consignment from Jammu.

“He was arrested in well-planned operation and arms and ammunition were recovered. Lone was in constant touch with Rukaya Farooq since long ago and both of them were discussing jihad or radicalism and were influencing each other. Pak-based Jaish handlers gave Lone the assignment of transporting arms/ammunition,”a source said.

The sources said that Bazil Ahmad Mir was appointed as a Junior Assistant in School Education Department in 2018 and posted at Government Boys High Secondary School, Ring Payeen, Machil, District Kupwara. Investigations into his activities have revealed that Mir after being appointed as a government employee became a notorious drug peddler in Lolab, Kupwara and adjoining areas of Kupwara. Taking advantage of his position as a government employee, he brazenly used his influence to create and spread the tentacles of a drug syndicate in and around Lolab, turning into a full-fledged trafficker of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and would mint money, at the cost of the life and career of the local youth, the sources said.

According to investigators, Mir has been in close touch with the Pakistani terrorist handlers and strengthened their foothold by playing a conduit in delivery, supply and sale of narcotic drugs including weapons and explosives, with the intention to break and destabilize Jammu and Kashmir internally by exploiting and luring its youth into narcotics and terrorism at the behest of these handlers.

Sources Mir was caught last year when he was travelling along with his close associate and his activities were causing irreparable damage to the society especially youth who are being addicted to drugs.

“It is common knowledge that heroin in Jammu and Kashmir is mostly smuggled from across the LoC to finance terrorism via districts sharing LoC with PoJK or border with Pakistan including Kupwara. Scores of such drug trafficking modules unearthed by Police has led to the discovery that such modules have turned out to be organized drug cartels smuggling contraband from Pakistan which is connected directly or indirectly with terrorism,” a source said.

Referring to Mohd Zaid Shah, the sources said he was appointed as a Village Level Worker (VLW) in Rural Development Department in 1998.

They said he is a hardcore drug peddler. Besides working as a Village Level Worker (VLW) in the Rural Development Department, he also functioned as a President of All J&K VLWs Association Baramulla.

“Mohd Zaid Shah under the guise of being a government employee, president of VLW association and his political affiliation with a national political party, had carved out an image in the general public, whereby he could be least suspected by the police or the security forces for being an element of narco-terror syndicate operating in Jammu and Kashmir. Taking advantage of the cover and camouflage of his public image, he leveraged his social standing to spread the drug syndicate in and around Uri in a covert and systematic manner, without being caught in the legal dragnet for a considerable period of time,” a source said.

Sources said he was put under the surveillance, which finally led to his arrest in 2022 along with narcotics worth Rs 30 crore.

Investigation further revealed that Zaid Shah had received such a huge consignment of heroin ( 10 kg) from drug smugglers across LoC in Pakistan Occupied J-K and was aiming to sell the contraband among peddlers in the union territory and other parts of India.

The sources said coordinated effort put by J-K police and Army led to the interception of such a huge quantity of contraband which otherwise could have ruined and destroyed the lives of sizeable portion of the youth.

“Recovery of heroin thwarted the nefarious designs of terrorists operating inside and across LOC which would have otherwise jeopardized the ongoing development initiatives undertaken by the government for youth besides ‘whole of the government approach’ in dismantling the terrorist-secessionist ecosystem,” a source said.

According to sources, Zaid was able to establish contacts with narcotic drug smugglers across the border in PoJK and was at the fore-front of running a drug cartel in the North Kashmir belt.

The sources said he was in constant touch with individuals hailing from J-K namely Abdul Razaq Khatana of Madian Kamalkote of Uri and Mohammad Arif Gojer and Mohammad Sharief Gojer both from Jabda, also from Uri, who in 1990 had ex-filtrated into Pakistan for terrorist training and are currently settled in PoJK.

The sources said it has also been revealed that the duo based in PoJK are working for the adversary tasked to smuggle narcotics, weapons and money to this side.

Both these individuals have acted as the main supply source of drugs to Zaid Shah for fuelling and funding the terrorist ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir, they said. (ANI)

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